Tambopata Books

Lifting Heaven: The Twilight of the Gods in Ancient Egypt

by Chris Karcher

While a king and his two queens engage in a brutal struggle for power in Alexandria, an eccentric royal priest takes a mysterious religious text with him on a trip to visit an ancient Egyptian temple far to the south and the unintended consequences of this seemingly inconsequential act prove to be deadly. Purchase from Amazon »

Tambopata Collection

South America

Moche artifact Artifacts — The majority of these artifacts are pre-Columbian, although one piece dates from just after the conquest. They are also mostly from Peru, specifically the Moche, Nazca, and Lambayeque civilizations. A few find their origins in other South American countries, such as Equador and Columbia. [View artifacts »]

Map of New World Maps — These maps represent early attempts to illustrate the geography of the southern part of the New World. They range in date from 1597 to 1853, and include work by British, French, and Danish cartographers. [View maps »]

Cover of Moche book Bibiliography — These are all books in our collection that have shed light on our artifacts, as well as on the history and art of the civilizations which created them. These boooks are all recomended for further study on South American indigenous cultures. [View bibliography »]

Egypt

Coptic papyrus Papyri — These papyri are written in either Coptic or Greek. Several of the Coptic documents mention a previously attested priest named Apa Sabinos which allows those papyrus to be dated to the late 5th/early 6th centuries and to determine their most likely place of origin as Hermopolis. [View papyri »]

Coming soon: Egyptian artifacts, maps & bibliography. Stay tuned...

A Note About the Collection

It would be comforting to believe that everyone respected ancient artifacts as shared objects that define our universal cultural heritage and were aware of the irreparable loss that tomb looting causes. Sadly this is not reality, for many reasons, and I would be remiss if no comment on this fact were included here.

There will be no apologies for my role as collector. Museums and collections stand witness today of past achievements because people were willing to expend their time and resources to collect things that others would discard or destroy. My intention is to become part of the tradition that preserves, and more importantly, shares.

Then there's economics. Too often, the people to whom these items should belong are active participants in the selling, looting and destruction of their own patrimony. An empty pot is meaningless to people with empty stomachs. Conversely, pride of ownership allows collectors to justify clearly unacceptable behavior. The argument that opening government storerooms and flooding the markets with objects already consigned to oblivion would end tomb looting is ridiculous. Ultimately, leaving these artifacts to the whims of local sensibilities, the vagaries of government policy or the intentions of private collectors offers no solution to the dilemma of how to deal with these precious objects.

The one common goal we can all strive to achieve is for everyone to have access to the treasures of our collective past. It is hoped that placing our collection online is a small step toward achieving that dream.